FINCASTLE – The Lord Botetourt boys won the Blue Ridge District swim championship for the ninth straight year with a strong performance at the Gator Center pool in Roanoke last Wednesday. The LB girls were second.
Botetourt scored 108 points to win the boys’ championship, outdistancing second place Staunton River by 24 points. William Byrd was third with 76, followed by Rockbridge with 65, Alleghany with 54, and Northside with 40.
Tyler Bailey won a district championship for the boys with a first place finish in the 100 Fly, finishing with a time of 1:00.92. He also swam on the first place 400 Free Relay team. The boys 200 Medley Relay team also finished first with a time of 1:57.85.
Other events where LB boys qualified for regionals included the following: Boys 200 Free-6th Brandon Pierson 2:29.69; Boys 200 IM–2nd Ben Brinkley 2:35.35, 5th Ben Miller 2:54.24; Boys 100 Free-5th Robert Switzer 1:03.39, 6th Austin Smith 1:03.86; Boys 100 Back-2nd Devon Jackson 1:09.08, 6th Hal Bailey 1:28.67; Boys 100 Breast-3rd Matt Simpson 1:19.37; Boys 500 Free-5th Brandon Pierson 6:54.39; and the Boys 200 Free Relay took second.
William Byrd cruised to the girls’ title with 182 points, and LB edged Rockbridge, 80-78, to grab second. Alleghany was fourth with 62 and Northside had 26 points.
The 200 Medley and 400 Free Relay teams were both second and other events where LB girls made the regionals were as follows: Girls 200 IM-2nd Cassidy Jackson 2:29.07, 4th Anne Chappell Barkett 2:49.49; Girls 100 Breast-2nd Cassidy Jackson 1:17.81, 3rd Kristen Blanchard 1:22.46; Girls 100 Back-3rd Rachel Wrotniewski 1:10.36; Girls 100 Fly-4th Rachel Wrotniewski 1:11.79, 6th Anne Chappell Barkett 1:20.72; Girls 500 Free-5th Marissa Schade 7:11.76; Girls 50 Free-6th Kristen Blanchard 28.41; and the Girls 200 Free-6th Julia Bailey 2:36.93.
The Region III meet is at James Madison University this Saturday.
